“Trump’s speech was “lacking in policy prescriptions,” and its “strident rhetoric masked a lack of depth,” said Robert “Bud” McFarlane, a former national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan who attended the speech.” Politico, April 27, 2016

“Federal law enforcement officials are investigating the re­lationship between a former ­Reagan administration official known for his role in the Iran-contra scandal and the government of Sudan, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in federal court.

Federal agents this month searched the ninth-floor Watergate condominium of former national security adviser Robert “Bud” McFarlane, who was approached in 2008 by Sudanese officials seeking access to the incoming Obama administration.

The Post reported that Sudanese officials helped arrange a $1.3 million contract between the government of Qatar and McFarlane, who later met with two of the Obama administration’s top policymakers on Sudan.

But federal law enforcement officials allege, according to a search warrant affidavit filed March 5 in federal court in the District, that McFarlane was actually working as a lobbyist and consultant directly with the government of Sudanand “attempted to hide his relationship with Sudan by contracting with the country of Qatar.”

U.S. law makes it a crime to work as an agent of a foreign government without proper disclosure and prohibits business with Sudan because of its history of alleged genocide and other human rights violations in its decades-long civil war.

McFarlane has not been charged with a crime. His attorney, Barry Wm. Levine, said McFarlane did not violate any laws. “He has devoted his entire adult life to the interests of this country, and he cares deeply about the people of Darfur,” Levine said.”

“The whole affair was sordid and laced with pathos. Not long after, McFarlane resigned from his post at the White House and, subsequently, attempted suicide. ”Bud’s tragic flaw was wanting to be Henry Kissinger, to be at the vortex, moving planets and shaking continents, respected as a profound, strategic thinker,” one associate told Maureen Dowd while McFarlane was still recuperating in the hospital. ”He regretted his resignation from the White House moments after he did it, because he realized he would never get a shot at achieving his dream.”

Now, at the age of 72, he seems to be at it again. According to The Washington Post, McFarlane seems to have been involved in a quid pro quo in which he appears to be informally lobbying for the removal of U.S. sanctions against the genocidal government of Sudan. Honestly, does he need the money that much? The Post puts his proceeds from the non-lobbying gig at around $1.9 million, paid by the government of Qatar.”

Involvement in Iran/Contra

“Under President Reagan, the NSC staff assumed a role beyond that of an advisory or coordinating body: It at times became operational, taking on primary responsibility for the execution of the Iran and contra covert operations. McFarlane did not shrink from the operational tasks that were of high personal interest to the President. He delegated some of them to a hard-driving NSC staff member, Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, McFarlane’s deputy director of political-military affairs.

In 1984, President Reagan directed McFarlane to keep the financially strapped Nicaraguan contras alive as a viable fighting force, despite a ban on U.S. military assistance, McFarlane assigned the job to North. North kept McFarlane generally informed of his efforts on behalf of the contras, which McFarlane told North to undertake in utmost secrecy. When Congress in 1985 inquired about press reports of North’s contra-aid efforts, McFarlane denied the allegations.

In 1985, McFarlane and Casey were the chief advocates of weapons sales to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages held by pro-Iranian terrorists in Beirut; again, McFarlane turned to North to help implement, in utmost secrecy, the arms-for-hostages deals. Although McFarlane resigned as national security adviser in December 1985, he stayed in contact with his former deputy and successor, Navy Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, and with North. He remained involved in the Iran weapons sales, acting as President Reagan’s emissary on a mission to Tehran in May 1986. In November 1986, McFarlane helped Poindexter and North conceal details of the Iran initiative, just as they had done when the operation was underway.

Beginning in December 1986 after the public exposure of Iran/contra, McFarlane voluntarily provided information to Congress, to President Reagan’s Tower Commission and to Independent Counsel. Because McFarlane was only partially truthful, it was difficult for investigators to determine on which matters he could be believed. Further complicating the matter was the fact that McFarlane’s testimony was, in some crucial respects, at odds with that of other senior Reagan Administration officials. McFarlane, for example, stood alone in insisting that President Reagan had approved the earliest 1985 sales of U.S. arms to Iran by Israel and had agreed to replenish Israeli weapons stocks. It was only after contemporary notes recording the events in question were discovered late in Independent Counsel’s investigation that much of what McFarlane said could be verified. His desire to keep secret certain contra-assistance activities resulted in criminal charges being brought against him.

After lengthy negotiations with Independent Counsel, McFarlane on March 11, 1988, pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges that he unlawfully withheld information from Congress about North’s contra-support activities and about the solicitation of foreign funding for the contras. As a condition of his plea, he agreed to cooperate with the ongoing criminal investigation. On December 24, 1992, McFarlane was one of six Iran/contra defendants pardoned by President Bush.”